What is the pragmatic functions of English questions?

Answer 1

Apart from to teach you that the word 'functions' is plural noun and so requires its governing verb 'to be' to be in the plural form 'are' and not, as you have put it, 'is', I would say that the functions of English questions, if you means questions about English literature, ARE best considered by considering the function of English literature, which I would say is actually: To detatch you from pragmatism: Education, at is best, is about the fostering the ability for abstract, metaphysical thought, about fostering the desire to think beyond the practical and to discover that human society is built upon concepts beyond the practical. What it is to be a human living in accord with one's self and in accord with others involves far more than just 'pragmatism' - if this was not the case then we would be as good as robots. Within the imaginative confines of the writer, literature brings complicated moral and philosophical systems to bear on the actualities of human experience and emotion, sensitively testing the values and ideologies by which people live against an imaginative conception of the human. To be a great writer you must understand fully what it is to be human, and also understand fully the complexities and implications of the value systems (moral, philosophical, political, etc) by which people live, so being able to test the two against one another. In this sense, I suppose, you could say that there is nothing more useful than literature, if it is always trying and testing the values by which you live against a conception of you, in order to make the difficult business of living within (with or against) these values enlightened and, most importantly, liberated. (i don't really know if this helps - if not, contact me at jimmcsweeny@hotmail.com)